BILL REQ. #:  H-0754.1 

Read first time 01/28/13.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to eliminating the use of automated traffic safety cameras; amending RCW 46.12.655, 46.16A.120, 46.63.030, 46.63.073, and 46.63.075; and repealing RCW 46.63.170.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   RCW 46.63.170 (Automated traffic safety cameras -- Definition) and 2012 c 85 s 3, 2012 c 83 s 7, 2011 c 367 s 704, 2010 c 161 s 1127, 2009 c 470 s 714, 2007 c 372 s 3, & 2005 c 167 s 1 are each repealed.

Sec. 2   RCW 46.12.655 and 2010 c 161 s 310 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) An owner is relieved of civil or criminal liability for the operation of a vehicle by another person when the owner has:
     (a) Made a bona fide sale or transfer of a vehicle;
     (b) Delivered possession of the vehicle to the person acquiring ownership;
     (c) Released interest in the vehicle and provided the certificate of title and registration certificate to the person acquiring ownership; and
     (d) Filed a report of sale that meets all the requirements in RCW 46.12.650(2).
     (2) A person acquiring a vehicle assumes civil or criminal liability for any traffic violation under this title, whether designated as a traffic infraction or classified as a criminal offense, that occurs after the date of sale or transfer of ownership based on the vehicle's identification including, but not limited to:
     (a) Parking infractions; and
     (b) High occupancy toll lane violations((; and
     (c) Violations recorded by automated traffic safety cameras)).
     (3) A person shown as the buyer of a vehicle on an abandoned vehicle report submitted to the department by a registered tow truck operator assumes liability for the vehicle. Any previous owner is relieved of civil or criminal liability for the operation of the vehicle from the date of sale.
     (4) A person who had no knowledge of the filing of the report of sale is relieved of civil or criminal liability for the operation of the vehicle. Liability is then transferred to the seller shown on the report of sale.

Sec. 3   RCW 46.16A.120 and 2012 c 83 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Each court and government agency located in this state having jurisdiction over standing, stopping, and parking violations, the use of a photo toll system under RCW 46.63.160, ((the use of automated traffic safety cameras under RCW 46.63.170,)) and the use of automated school bus safety cameras under RCW 46.63.180 may forward to the department any outstanding:
     (a) Standing, stopping, and parking violations;
     (b) Civil penalties for toll nonpayment detected through the use of photo toll systems issued under RCW 46.63.160; and
     (c) ((Automated traffic safety camera infractions issued under RCW 46.63.030(1)(d); and
     (d))) Automated school bus safety camera infractions issued under RCW 46.63.030(1)(((e))) (d).
     (2) Violations, civil penalties, and infractions described in subsection (1) of this section must be reported to the department in the manner described in RCW 46.20.270(3).
     (3) The department shall:
     (a) Record the violations, civil penalties, and infractions on the matching vehicle records; and
     (b) Send notice approximately one hundred twenty days in advance of the current vehicle registration expiration date to the registered owner listing the dates and jurisdictions in which the violations, civil penalties, and infractions occurred, the amounts of unpaid fines and penalties, and the surcharge to be collected. Only those violations, civil penalties, and infractions received by the department one hundred twenty days or more before the current vehicle registration expiration date will be included in the notice. Violations, civil penalties, and infractions received by the department later than one hundred twenty days before the current vehicle registration expiration date that are not satisfied will be delayed until the next vehicle registration expiration date.
     (4) The department, county auditor or other agent, or subagent appointed by the director shall not renew a vehicle registration if there are any outstanding standing, stopping, and parking violations, and other civil penalties issued under RCW 46.63.160 for the vehicle unless:
     (a) The outstanding standing, stopping, or parking violations and civil penalties were received by the department within one hundred twenty days before the current vehicle registration expiration;
     (b) There is a change in registered ownership; or
     (c) The registered owner presents proof of payment of each violation, civil penalty, and infraction provided in this section and the registered owner pays the surcharge required under RCW 46.17.030.
     (5) The department shall:
     (a) Forward a change in registered ownership information to the court or government agency who reported the outstanding violations, civil penalties, or infractions; and
     (b) Remove the outstanding violations, civil penalties, and infractions from the vehicle record.

Sec. 4   RCW 46.63.030 and 2011 c 375 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A law enforcement officer has the authority to issue a notice of traffic infraction:
     (a) When the infraction is committed in the officer's presence;
     (b) When the officer is acting upon the request of a law enforcement officer in whose presence the traffic infraction was committed;
     (c) If an officer investigating at the scene of a motor vehicle accident has reasonable cause to believe that the driver of a motor vehicle involved in the accident has committed a traffic infraction; or
     (d) ((When the infraction is detected through the use of an automated traffic safety camera under RCW 46.63.170; or
     (e))) When the infraction is detected through the use of an automated school bus safety camera under RCW 46.63.180.
     (2) A court may issue a notice of traffic infraction upon receipt of a written statement of the officer that there is reasonable cause to believe that an infraction was committed.
     (3) If any motor vehicle without a driver is found parked, standing, or stopped in violation of this title or an equivalent administrative regulation or local law, ordinance, regulation, or resolution, the officer finding the vehicle shall take its registration number and may take any other information displayed on the vehicle which may identify its user, and shall conspicuously affix to the vehicle a notice of traffic infraction.
     (4) In the case of failure to redeem an abandoned vehicle under RCW 46.55.120, upon receiving a complaint by a registered tow truck operator that has incurred costs in removing, storing, and disposing of an abandoned vehicle, an officer of the law enforcement agency responsible for directing the removal of the vehicle shall send a notice of infraction by certified mail to the last known address of the person responsible under RCW 46.55.105. The notice must be entitled "Littering -- Abandoned Vehicle" and give notice of the monetary penalty. The officer shall append to the notice of infraction, on a form prescribed by the department of licensing, a notice indicating the amount of costs incurred as a result of removing, storing, and disposing of the abandoned vehicle, less any amount realized at auction, and a statement that monetary penalties for the infraction will not be considered as having been paid until the monetary penalty payable under this chapter has been paid and the court is satisfied that the person has made restitution in the amount of the deficiency remaining after disposal of the vehicle.

Sec. 5   RCW 46.63.073 and 2007 c 372 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) In the event a traffic infraction is based on a vehicle's identification, and the registered owner of the vehicle is a rental car business, the law enforcement agency shall, before a notice of infraction may be issued, provide a written notice to the rental car business that a notice of infraction may be issued to the rental car business if the rental car business does not, within thirty days of receiving the written notice, provide to the issuing agency by return mail:
     (a) A statement under oath stating the name and known mailing address of the individual driving or renting the vehicle when the infraction occurred; or
     (b) A statement under oath that the business is unable to determine who was driving or renting the vehicle at the time the infraction occurred because the vehicle was stolen at the time of the infraction. A statement provided under this subsection must be accompanied by a copy of a filed police report regarding the vehicle theft.
     Timely mailing of this statement to the issuing law enforcement agency relieves a rental car business of any liability under this chapter for the notice of infraction. In lieu of identifying the vehicle operator, the rental car business may pay the applicable penalty. For the purpose of this subsection, a "traffic infraction based on a vehicle's identification" includes, but is not limited to, parking infractions((,)) and high occupancy toll lane violations((, and violations recorded by automated traffic safety cameras)).
     (2) In the event a parking infraction is issued by a private parking facility and is based on a vehicle's identification, and the registered owner of the vehicle is a rental car business, the parking facility shall, before a notice of infraction may be issued, provide a written notice to the rental car business that a notice of infraction may be issued to the rental car business if the rental car business does not, within thirty days of receiving the written notice, provide to the parking facility by return mail:
     (a) A statement under oath stating the name and known mailing address of the individual driving or renting the vehicle when the infraction occurred; or
     (b) A statement under oath that the business is unable to determine who was driving or renting the vehicle at the time the infraction occurred because the vehicle was stolen at the time of the infraction. A statement provided under this subsection must be accompanied by a copy of a filed police report regarding the vehicle theft.
     Timely mailing of this statement to the parking facility relieves a rental car business of any liability under this chapter for the notice of infraction. In lieu of identifying the vehicle operator, the rental car business may pay the applicable penalty. For the purpose of this subsection, a "parking infraction based on a vehicle's identification" is limited to parking infractions occurring on a private parking facility's premises.

Sec. 6   RCW 46.63.075 and 2012 c 83 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) In a traffic infraction case involving an infraction ((detected through the use of an automated traffic safety camera under RCW 46.63.170 or)) detected through the use of an automated school bus safety camera under RCW 46.63.180, proof that the particular vehicle described in the notice of traffic infraction was in violation of any such provision of RCW ((46.63.170 and)) 46.63.180, together with proof that the person named in the notice of traffic infraction was at the time of the violation the registered owner of the vehicle, constitutes in evidence a prima facie presumption that the registered owner of the vehicle was the person in control of the vehicle at the point where, and for the time during which, the violation occurred.
     (2) This presumption may be overcome only if the registered owner states, under oath, in a written statement to the court or in testimony before the court that the vehicle involved was, at the time, stolen or in the care, custody, or control of some person other than the registered owner.